John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 will no longer shoot back-to-back. Since the original John Wick film came out in 2014, the franchise has emerged as one of this era's defining action properties. Fueled by Keanu Reeves' intense dedication to his craft and beautifully choreographed set pieces, John Wick has only grown stronger over time. The most recent entry, 2019's John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, grossed $327.2 million worldwide against a $75 million budget, encouraging Lionsgate to continue the series. The studio has no plans of slowing down, with John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 in the pipeline.
John Wick 4 has been in development ever since John Wick 3 premiered, but news of a fifth movie wasn't official until last year, when Lionsgate announced their intention to film John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 back-to-back after Reeves wrapped work on The Matrix 4. Of course, given the current state of the world, even the best laid plans are subject to change at any moment, and it would appear Lionsgate is shifting some things around regarding John Wick.
According to Collider, the next two John Wick sequels are not filming back-to-back anymore. Instead, only John Wick 4 will commence principal photography over the summer, with June being the target date. Reportedly, the film will shoot in Berlin, Paris, New York, and Japan (suggesting the story has a global scope). There's no word on when John Wick 5 will go into production.
It isn't surprising Lionsgate's strategy has been altered. As the team looks to make their way through production amidst an ongoing global pandemic, the studio may feel it's smarter to concentrate on a single film and get that completed before moving on to the next one. There will undoubtedly be health and safety protocols in place on the John Wick 4 set, meaning filming could go at a slower pace than before. Additionally, there could be delays if anyone tests positive for COVID-19. Given that John Wick 4 has a May 2022 release date (and John Wick 5 has no release date as of yet), the fourth movie is the bigger priority. It's more important for Lionsgate to finish John Wick 4 on time so they can (hopefully) stick to their schedule.
As long as everything goes well, there ideally won't be much of a delay between John Wick 4 and John Wick 5, especially since the latter has already been lined up. Perhaps John Wick 5 will enter principal photography at some point in 2022 in order to reach a 2023 release. Some of that will depend on what Reeves' schedule looks like moving forward. He recently signed on to star in an adaptation of his BRZRKR comic book for Netflix, but no timeline has been announced yet. Regardless, considering how popular John Wick's proven to be, Lionsgate will not want to wait too long to get John Wick 5 off the ground.
Source: Collider
